200,000 take part in Taiwan's anti-nuclear protest
Source: Central News Agency
In what organizers called the largest anti-nuclear protest in Taiwan, an estimated 200,000 people took to the streets in several parts of the island on Saturday to call for the scrapping of nuclear power plants.
The protest was held simultaneously in northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan just two days before the second anniversary of the meltdown of Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant in the wake of the big earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
The march participants demanded that the government not allocate any more funding for the construction of Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant in New Taipei City. Construction of the plant has stretched over 14 years and has so far costed taxpayers US$10 billion. It is scheduled to be completed later this year.
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Protesters also demanded the speedy decommissioning of Taiwan's first, second and third nuclear power plants now under operation. All three plants are around three decades old.
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By Hu Chien-sen and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with Staff writer
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) and the government should not presume that nuclear power is the only energy choice, Academia Sinica researcher Yen Hung-yang (嚴宏洋
said yesterday, calling on the government to look into other options, otherwise it would be difficult for Taiwan to shoulder the consequences should anything untoward happen at any of the nation’s nuclear power plants.
...
Taiwan meets the prerequisites for generating green energy, and while it lacks the sheer land mass of Germany, southern Taiwan is almost permanently bathed in sunlight, while western, northwestern and eastern Taiwan offer excellent locations for wind power turbines, Yen said.
The government could even choose to construct offshore wind turbines, he said, adding that while it might drive overhead costs up, locating turbines offshore would free land for other uses and address the problem of noise generated by the turbines....
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/03/09/2003556657